A year of reading

January 1, 2014 by Brad McElhinny

I did not (all by myself) complete 150 books during the WV150 reading challenge, where teams of readers aimed to read 150 books collectively. But with the challenge as an incentive, I did manage to read more than most years.

Not everything was heavy reading. A lot of it was short. I was heavy on fiction. It was fun.

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume (audio), 6/2/13 (Played for the family while driving back from vacation. Still counts!)

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, 6/10/13

Mercury Rises by Robert Kroese 7/6/13

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming 7/7/13

Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut, 7/15/13

Raylan: A Novel by Elmore Leonard, 7/21/13

Mercury Rests by Robert Kroese, 8/3/13

Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know by Jill Geisler, 8/20/13

The Sky Unwashed by Irene Zabytko, 8/27/13

Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury, 9/14/13

Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut, 9/18/13

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, 9/27/13

The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett, 10/9/13

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie, 10/20/13

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, 10/30/13

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick, 11/25/13

Orphan Train: A Novel by Christina Baker Kline, 12/8/13

Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Other Stories by Truman Capote, 12/15/13

The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, 12-26-13

Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff, 12/29/13

I have some classics on the list, but I’ll admit to spacing out a bit while reading “The Moviegoer” and “The Sun Also Rises.” Same with the mysteries “Five Little Pigs” and “Death is a Lonely Business.” That’s probably not a sign of intense interest.

I often like southern literature but I disliked “Tobacco Road.”

“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” and “All Quiet on the Western Front” are not necessarily meant to go together but are both stories of young men at war. They work nicely as a unit — if you want to remind yourself that war is not as glamorous as it’s often made out to be.

I read “Brave New World” and “The Boys From Brazil” back to back. I liked both, and recommend them if you’re in the mood for some alternate histories. I got around to “The Man in the High Castle” a while later but it felt like it fit in with the other two books.

Vonnegut’s “Slapstick” and “Timequake” are very similar to each other. They’re both sad and hilarious.

“Mayflower,” the story of the Pilgrims, and “Lost in Shangri-La,” which was about soldiers being rescued from New Guinea after a plane crash, both read like action tales. Thumbs up to both.

Some of my favorites were books that I knew very little about. Low expectations helped. But I found “The Center of Everything,” “West With the Night” and “The Sky Unwashed” to be simple, gentle, enjoyable stories.

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One Response to “A year of reading”

You read some good and heavy stuff this year. It took 10 of us in my book group to read 154 books this year (though many went unreported, I think.) My favorites of the year were “Where’d You Go Bernadette,” “The Interestings,” “Eleanor and Park,” and “Fangirl.” I just finished an odd book called “The Magicians” by Lev Grossman.